Jumping stick horse

ABSTRACT

A stick horse on which a person rides with a bouncing movement, comprising an elongated rod made of resilient material which the rider straddles and holds so that the rod has one end resting on the ground and the other end inclined upwardly from the ground, a head on the upwardly inclined end of the rod simulating an animal head, and a seat mounted intermediately along the length of the rod on which the rider alternately sits to apply a downward thrust to the rod bending same, and then raises himself slightly from the seat whereupon the rod bends upwardly under elastic stress.

United States Patent Campbell 1 1 Aug. 8, 1972 [54] J UMPING STICK HORSE[72] Inventor: James R. Campbell, 1117 S. Bozeman Avenue, Bozeman, Mont.59715 22 Filed: Dec. 30, 1969 21 App1.No.: 889,266

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Zubler et a1. ..272/1 DTapling ..272/70 X Primary ExaminerRichard C. Pinkham AssistantExaminer-R. T. Stouffer Attorney-Munson l-l. Lane and Munson H. Lane,Jr.

[ ABSTRACT A stick horse on which a person rides with a bouncingmovement, comprising an elongated rod made of resilient material whichthe rider straddles and holds so that the rod has one end resting on theground and the other end inclined upwardly from the ground, a head onthe upwardly inclined end of the rod simulating an animal head, and aseat mounted intermediately along the length of the rod on which therider alternately sits to apply a downward thrust to the rod bendingsame, and then raises himself slightly from the seat whereupon the rodbends upwardly under elastic stress.

4 Claim, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAUB 8 I972 FIG.|.

FIG.4.

FIG.5.

FIG.6.

FIG.5.

INVENTOR JAMES R. CAMPBELL BY MW fm ATTOR N EYS JUMPING STICK HORSE Thisinvention relates to an improved stick horse such as used by children tosimulate a real horse and on which the child rides with bouncing motion.

Stick horses have been used by children in the past in the make-believesport of simulated horseback riding. The stick horses commonly found inthe prior art include a rigid stick which is held in the hands of therider near one end in an inclined position with the other end resting onthe ground. The stick will usually be provided with a head simulating ahorses head, or other animal head and sometimes may even be providedwith a seat. The sticks are riden with a galloping motion by the ridersbut being rigid they provide no propulsion to the rider.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved stick horsewhich provides the rider with propelling motion under the riders weight.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a riding toy which ismade of an elongated resilient rod which springs vertically under theweight of the rider.

With the foregoing objects and features in view and such other objectsand features as may become apparent as this specification proceeds, theinvention will be understood from the following description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawing, wherein like characters ofreference are used to designate like parts and wherein;

FIGS. 1 through 4 are a series of side elevational views of a rider onthe invention showing a sequence of positions of the rider and inventionin normal use of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the invention taken on line 55 of FIG. 1;and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view similar to FIG. 5 of a modified form of theinvention.

Referring now to FIG. 1 of the drawing a rider 10 is shown straddlingthe invention 11 which comprises an elongated rod 12 having a simulatedhorses head 13 mounted on one end 14 of the rod and a seat 15 mountedsecurely interrnediately along the length of the rod. In use the end 16of the rod opposite the simulated horse s head rests on the ground 17 orother suitable supporting surface such as the floor of a building. Theseat 15 has a generally flat surface 19 supported by a depending member20 on the inclined upper surface of the rod 12 when the stick horse isheld in position for use. The seat is preferably adjustably mountedalong the length of the elongated rod 12 by means of clamps 18 whichencircle the rod and are bolted to the depending seat support member 20.If desired a screw fastener 21 may be extended through one or both ofthe clamps 18 to fix the clamp at a selected position along the lengthof the rod 12. However adjustability of the seat with respect to the rod12 is preferred in order to adjust the seat position for use with ridersof varying height.

The invention is particularly characterized by the resilient nature ofthe rod 12 which is adapted to bend under weight in a vertical planewhen held in position for normal use as shown in FIG. 2. The rod 12 maybe of circular cross section as seen in FIG. 5 in which case the rod isuniversally resilient in any plane containing the rod or the rod 12 maybe flat with a rectangular cross section as shown in FIG. 6. Crosssectional confli a rf 8?; slllfii fi'ilfiii rfif hg ue 5%31555 the rodis capable of bending resiliently in a vertical plane when the rod isheld in position for normal use by the rider. As shown in FIG. 6 theseat 15 is secured to the rod 12 by means of a headed fastener 22extending through the rod 12 into the support 20 depending from theseat.

The strength of the spring material selected for the rod 12 will bechosen in accordance with the weight of the rider for whom the stickhorse is designed. For example the rod 12 may be made of elastic metal,plastic or other spring material approximately 5 feet long and ofapproximate l /2 inch diameter. The elastic strength of the rod 12 forchildren from six to ten 'will be stronger than for children from threeto six years of age because of their difference in weight. Otherdimensions of length and cross section can be chosen as will be apparentto those skilled in the art.

The use of the stick horse 11 is best understood by viewing FIGS. 1, 2,3 and 4 in sequence. The rider on mounting the stick horse standsstraddling the horse holding the head 13 upwardly as shown in FIG. 1.The rider then bends his knees and puts weight on the seat 15 causingthe rod 12 to bend as shown in FIG. 2. A slight upward and forwardmovement of the rider upon his legs takes weight off the seat 15 andpermits the rod 12 to spring upwardly as shown in FIG. 3 giving therider an upward and forward thrust. The rider then bends his knees andapplies weight to the seat 12 as seen in FIG. 4 causing the rod 12 tobend and preparing it to repeat the cycle. As the rider progressesforwardly with a running or galloping motion in the manner described,the stick horse provides bounce to the ride by means of its resiliency.

What is claimed is:

1. A jumping horse comprising a flexible, elastic, springy resilient rodof a length for one end to rest on the floor behind a child straddlingthe bar and extend upwardly at an acute angle through the crotch of thechild forwardly and upwardly for gripping of the upper forward endportion by the hands of the child, a seat having a generallyhorizontally extending seat portion mounted on a mid portion of saidflexible springy rod at an acute angle to the rod with the seat portionsubstantially parallel with the floor and behind the child when thechild is standing and gripping the forwardly projecting portion of the2. The invention according to claim 1 in which an animal head is mountedon the flexible, elastic, springy resilient rod forwardly of the portionof the rod gripped by the hands of the child with the animal head inupright position when the seat portion is horizontal.

3. The device set forth in claim 1 together with means for adjustablymounting said seat at selected positions along the length of said rod.

4. The device set forth in claim 1 wherein said rod has a rectangularcross section with the sides of greater dimension extendinghorizontally.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTIN Patent No. 3,682Dated August 8, 1972 l-( James R. Campbell It is certified that errorappears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent arehereby corrected as shown below:

Column 2, line 51, after "the", insert the following:

rod while the said? one end of the rod engages the floor, said flexibleresilient bar having a small vertical dimension relative to the widthwhereby the bending is limited to flexing in a vertical plane, the rodbeing suffjiciently flexible in a vertical plane while also beingsufficiently stiff so the child: may bounce on the seat by assuming asitting position while straddling the bar and grippi' g the upperforward end and thereby flexing the mid portion off the rod downwardlyby his weight and downward momentum by a sufficient amount so the seatsprings upwardly by the resilience of the rod moving the child upwardlyto an upright position so the operation can be repeated a number oftimes, producing a pleasant amusement experience.

Signed and sealed this 24th day of April 1973.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissionerof Patents FORM PC4050 (10459) USCOMM-DC 60376-P69 5. GOVERNMENTPRINTING OFFICE I 1959 0-366-334,

1. A jumping horse comprising a flexible, elastic, springy resilient rodof a length for one end to rest on the floor behind a child straddlingthe bar and extend upwardly at an acute angle through the crotch of thechild forwardly and upwardly for gripping of the upper forward endportion by the hands of the child, a seat having a generallyhorizontally extending seat portion mounted on a mid portion of saidflexible springy rod at an acute angle to the rod with the seat portionsubstantially parallel with the floor and behind the child when thechild is standing and gripping the forwardly projecting portion of the2. The invention according to claim 1 in which an animal head is mountedon the flexible, elastic, springy resilient rod forwardly of the portionof the rod gripped by the hands of the child with the animal head inupright position when the seat portion is horizontal.
 3. The device setforth in claim 1 together with means for adjustably mounting said seatat selected positions along the length of said rod.
 4. The device setforth in claim 1 wherein said rod has a rectangular cross section withthe sides of greater dimension extending horizontally.